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Just testing the waters and putting up a gang for a Necromunda newbie.
Rip it up.

Leader, Shotgun, Manstopper, Chainsword (A La Army of Darkness look).

Hvy, Shotgun, Bolt
Hvy, Shotgun, Bolt
-The bolt shotgun looks 'hvy' enough taste-wise. Do I really need a hvy weapon early on, when I could just purchase one after I see which hvy gets what advancements?

Ganger, Lasgun
Ganger, Lasgun
Ganger, Lasgun
Ganger, Lasgun
Ganger, Lasgun
Ganger, Lasgun

Very one-dimensional, but I was hoping to convert these guys from a box of catachans.

Juv, Autopistol
Juv, Autopistol
Juv, Autopistol
Juv, Autopistol

The long term investments.

Heavies should always start with a heavy stubber. Late campaign they can be upgraded to heavy bolters once you get a lot of armourers so they can deal with multi wound models easily. Another good reason to add a "real" heavy weapon is that most likely your opponents will have them. If that's the case you are giving them perhaps 2 or 3 turns to hit you hard while you spend the time just covering the distance to get in range.

The rest of the list is fine though. Will have to lose some guys though if you want to spend the extra credits on a heavy weapon.

How about this:

Leader
Chainsword
Shotgun
Manstopper

Heavy
Flamer
Autopistol

Heavy
Stubber
Lasgun

Ganger
Lasgun

Ganger
Lasgun

Ganger
Shotgun

Ganger
Shotgun

Juv
Autopistol

Juv
Autopistol

Juv
Autopistol

Leaving 100 Credits.
What should I do with it? Save it?

After restarting a Necromunda league, here are some observations after 15 or so games...

Characters that you count on to do the most damage (ie: heavies, and your gang leader) should have long range weapons to keep them out of trouble. You want to squeeze in as many multi-shot or blast template weapons as possible. This means, in most cases, that your gang leader should be packing a grenade launcher, and your heavy (or heavies) should be packing at least heavy stubbers.

In the beginning one heavy with a heavy stubber, backed up by a gang leader with a grenade launcher, is enough to cause significant damage. The leader's BS of 4 means that he's hitting on 3's (exposed target) at 20", or 4's at 21-60". The range is huge. Not only will he level up faster (you want this, as you want him to gain LD so your bottle checks are more voluntary than manditory), he'll also be a bit safer with a juve screen.

The heavy with the heavy stubber can wreck people. My first game was an ambush scenario, and it lasted half a turn. One burst from the heavy stubber and one lucky potshot from a ganger caused the opposing gang to bottle in my first turn.



As for flamers, they're cool, but your heavies should be packing long ranged death. Leave the flamers for gangers who will be closing with the enemy. You can equip them once one of them gets "specialist" under the techno skill tree.



As for tactics, your use of the meat shield will mean that you can play relatively conservatively with your gang members who are doing the most damage, while your juves run into the fray and get shot up. That's OK though. If you're lucky and have a settlement, you should be getting replacements for free. I was lucky and rolled up 2 settlements for territories, so I have a 1/3 chance of recruiting a juve every time we play. Needless to say, I don't bother arming them. They're on meatshield duty and they need to earn those pistols.

Speaking of meat shields...

You'll find that some of your gangers roll up awesome skills like Marksman and Specialist. Some of them roll up things much less useful (Killer Reputation: do you really want someone running if you're planning on charging them?). Once you gain experience, it should be pretty obvious who needs to stand out front and take hits as a matter of priority.




Since Necromunda is all about the campaign, it's more about long-term management than initial gang lists, so just bear in mind that you want your most useful casualty producers to stay alive from fight to fight.



ETA: as a general rule, you always want 5 gangers or more. You should strive to have enough gangers to work all of your territories. In the beginning, this means 5. The problem really starts when you start taking casualties. Injured gangers can't work territories. You need to produce income to replace casualties and pick up useful items.

I second always having a heavy stubber. In our little campaign the heavy stubber almost invariably causes half the wounds of the entire team, followed by two very lucky lasgun wielders (oddly), with an angry melee fellow or two doing the rest.

Nice stuff Nuggz.

2 Stubbers too much starting out?
How important is having cash in the stash?
I'm using the Weapon List in the main Necromunda book, I don't see Grenade Launchers as an option there at the start.

So the basics should be:

3 Juvs, nothing.
3 Gangers with Shotguns.
3 Gangers with Lasguns or Autoguns
2 Hvies (at least one Stubber)
Leader with Chainsword (for looks) and a ranged weapon, hence the shotgun for now.

Sanctjud wrote:Nice stuff Nuggz.

2 Stubbers too much starting out?
How important is having cash in the stash?
I'm using the Weapon List in the main Necromunda book, I don't see Grenade Launchers as an option there at the start.

So the basics should be:

3 Juvs, nothing.
3 Gangers with Shotguns.
3 Gangers with Lasguns or Autoguns
2 Hvies (at least one Stubber)
Leader with Chainsword (for looks) and a ranged weapon, hence the shotgun for now.

2 Heavy stubbers is a lot to start out with because you will have a hard time squeezing in the necessary Juves and Gangers. You want at least 5 gangers and 2 juves is a good start. That's 2 groups that have a mandatory meat shield.

Initially, your stash should not be a priority. You will capture enemy fighters, make money on territories, etc. There are a few things you will want money for, listed here in order of priority IMO:

1- Ransom for captured fighters. This is #1. Nothing sucks more than having someone get captured and having nothing useful to offer up for the ransom.

2- Replacing lost fighters. Let's face it: you will take casualties eventually and you want to replace them.

3- Kitting out your gang. This actually isn't that important, as the guys with grenade launchers and heavy weapons shouldn't be the ones taking hits anyway so the heavy weapons are more of a long term investment. Lasguns and autoguns are pretty much as good as it gets for your average ganger and everything is cheap, so...



That said, I think that buying weapons you plan on keeping long-term is a better investment than spare gang members who may not be doing anything useful. Hiring a second heavy is cool but personally I think it's a big-time cred sink. He can't work territories, and the truth is that once a heavy gets a heavy stubber or heavy bolter, he's going to be inflicting so much damage that he'll level up faster than everyone else anyway!


On the subject of grenade launchers, you can buy them after your first game. Sorry, that was an oversight on my part: my gang is Orlocks and they're a special weapon for us, so Gang Leaders and Heavies can take them from the start.




As for the list you posted, I like it. It's a lot of guys! If you play another new gang, they'll have trouble dealing with that many as he's got to knock off 3 guys before you start taking bottle checks. Then again, it would be that way with 9 gang members too.

Your gang is a matter of personal preference. By having a lot of guys, you're also giving lots of gang members experience. I think that this is important with gangers, since they gain levels slow, and lots of juves is always a good thing.

The one thing I'd drop is the second heavy. You could use the spare cash to put towards weapons and he's not really doing much until he gets one. But once he gets one, his experience will shoot up like crazy.



As for credits it would look like this for you:

Gang leader, chainsword, shotgun: 170
Heavy w/ heavy stubber and autopistol: 195
3 Gangers w/ shotguns (75 each): 225
3 Gangers with lasguns (75 each): 225
3 Juves w/ nothing (25 each): 75
Heavy w/ lasgun: 85

It's 970 with the second heavy and 885 without. Assuming that your territories net you a 50 cred stash, after one game you'll have enough for a grenade launcher with frag grenades if you don't take the heavy.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Sanctjud, I wanted to post this so you can see how a gang develops.

I started with a leader w/ meltagun and chainsword, heavy w/ heavy stubber, 5 lasgun/stubgun gangers, and 2 juves. After 15 or so games, this is what it's looking like:



I haven't taken any casualties yet actually, but I had one juve get captured. He wasn't armed so I didn't even bother attempting a rescue, but I've captured lots of territory. If you have a choice, the most important skills to take are specialist for gangers, marksman for ranged guys, rapid fire, armorer, and medic. The best territory IMO is settlement, and the best non-combat skill is inventor.

@NuggzTheNinja

Wow, thank you. That's an awesome roster. Lots of fear going around.
C-Lo sounds like a fun guy to hang around with.
_____________

I think I'll hold off on the second Hvy and just get one with hvy weapon equipped when funds start coming in.
I think more juvs for now.

How do you feel about hired guns? I was looking into a Wyrd or a pit slave or ganger. Prob. getting a Ratsking Scout.

Have you tried Attack Pets? It would seem investing in another juv would be better than attackpets or hired guns, but the 'flavor' can't be denied.
It seems funds do start rolling in at some point where maintaining a hired gun isn't too bad (obviously don't spam....unless it's like a last mission or something)

Oh, here's my WIP shots of my gang:
http://www.40konline.com/community/index.php?topic=145682.msg2371905;topicseen#new

All of the Hired Guns are great once you can afford them. In the beginning, though, the problem with Hired Guns is that you're tempted to use them. Sounds weird right? Well here's the thing: a starting gang is pretty weak, so when you can hire this badass mofo for 35 creds who comes with a zillion items, good skills and stats, and he's *expendable*, you're really tempted to throw him out there and kick butt. The problem is, the more butt he kicks, the less butt your permanent gangers are kicking!

For a game where you're going against a vastly superior opponent with lots of heavy weapons or grenade launchers, it might pay to take a couple pit slaves as meat shields if you can afford the price. I wouldn't use them for combat as much as expendability: throw 'em out in front and shield your real gangers with them. But IMO, Juves are better for this anyway as they're only 10 points more, and only have a 1/6 chance of dying even if they do suffer a serious injury.

Personally I haven't used them so I can't tell you how good they are, but it seems like they're keeping vital XP from the guys who need it.